People I admire

• Ability to Finish Last with Dignity

  Posted: January 10, 2010, 10:23 pm

  This is a new year, almost a second chance to do to right what you did wrong last year. This year, I urge all of you to finish what you start. Many of us start soo many things but very few of use finish. I remember a sermon by T.D. Jakes about finishing. Most of us are obsessed with finishing first that if we don't finish first then we don't finish at all. How many times do we watch the Standard Chartered Marathon only to see people stop running because they saw someone else finish the race? Sometimes, when you reach the middle, you realize it's not as easy as you thought when you started so you give up but I tell you if you had the motivation to start, then you have the strength to finish. If you have listened to Betty Bayo's song 11th hour, you may have heard that it is darkest just before day break. Things are thickest before their break through. Don't give-up and please finish what you start, the satisfaction of finishing is the best. Have a motivated 2010 and continue doing the ordinary in the most extra-ordinary ways.
  
  The year was 1968 and John Stevens Akhwari was his Tanzania’s Olympic hope at the 1968 games in Mexico City.
  
  
  During the race, Akhwari fell and injured himself badly. Urged by medical personnel to quit the race and get attention, a bleeding and bandaged Akhwari refused. He continued to hobble down the path, invoking every last ounce of strength that remained in his injured body.
  
  An hour after the race had ended, Akhwari finally made his way into the Olympic stadium limping and hobbling. The crowd stood to their feet, perhaps understanding that a great Olympic moment was unravelling. The injured athlete finally broke into a slight run, the grimace of pain on his face and the white bandages on his leg underscoring the effort each step required.
  
  He eventually crossed the finish line to thunderous applause. When later asked why he did not quit the race, his response would find its way into the annals of history. “My country,” he said, “Did not send me to Mexico to start the race.
  
  They sent me to finish it.” He didn’t know it then but Akhwari who finished last in 54th position (74 had begun the race) had become an Olympic legend.
  
  Here is a video of the Olympic games of 1968
  
  
  
  

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes